Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is showing his smarts by saying he won’t deliver coronavirus advice or complain about how bad his life is amid nationwide lockdowns.
Rodgers is rich. Super rich. He’s worth some $120 million, according to The Street. Back in 2018, he signed a contract extension that will pay him $134 million through 2022, CNBC reported. Last year, he and his girlfriend, retired race car driver Danica Patrick, picked up a beachfront house in Malibu, Calif. according to Variety. The couple paid $28 million — in cash.
So maybe — just maybe — Rodgers isn’t the best guy to be telling someone who makes $8 an hour as a fry cook at a diner and lives in a studio apartment how he should be dealing with life during the coronavirus.
And he knows it.
“One thing that I haven’t done or will not do is [be] one of those celebs who’s telling you how difficult it is, or stay-in-your-home stuff from a mansion,” Rodgers said on former Packers teammate A.J. Hawk’s podcast on Friday. “What I do know is that my friends who are small-business owners are really hurting. … There’s real people hurting, so I’m not going sit here in my privilege and tell people from my ivory tower to do this or do that.
“I will say, let’s all be smart about what we’re doing and what we’re seeing. But man, I know people are hurting and that is way more important to me than some sort of message that I can relate to you. That to me just falls on deaf ears.”
A number of Hollywood celebrities have weighed in an how Americans should handle the crisis. Earlier this month, “Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot posted a video of stars like Kristen Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Fallon, and Natalie Portman singing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” which the Beatles singer said was “virtually the Communist Manifesto.”
Twitterers ripped the celebs. “I don’t know how millionaires singing about ‘no possessions’ from their mansions is supposed to ease my anxiety,” one user wrote.
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres drew criticism after she said, during her first taped-from-home show, that being in quarantine was like being in jail — from her $24 million beachfront mansion she shares with wife Portia de Rossi.
Singer Madonna posted a video — from the bathtub of her no-doubt massive mansion — explaining to fans why the coronavirus has made her just like them.
“It’s the great equalizer. And what’s terrible about it is what’s great about it. What’s terrible about it is it’s made us all equal, in many ways. And what’s wonderful about it is that it’s made us all equal, in many ways.”
But actor Ryan Reynolds once again proved his “everyman” bona fides, like Rodgers.
“We need to work to flatten the curve and fight off COVID-19. I think in times of crisis, I think we all know that it’s the celebrities we count on most,” Reynolds said in a hilarious video. “They’re the ones that are going to get us through this.
“Right after healthcare workers, of course,” he said. “First responders. People who work in essential services. Ping pong players. Mannequins, they’re great. Childhood imaginary friends, sure. Like 400 other types of people.”
Another important message from an important celebrity. Let’s spread the word not the virus. I happily nominate, @stevenpage @Sethrogen and @TerryR49776917 #PlankTheCurve #StayAtHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/IRJNI9Y6G9
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 23, 2020
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